The government will soon have “specific announcements” to make relating to energy matters, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Thursday.

He made the cryptic remarks on his way to a luncheon held at the residence of the United Arab Emirates ambassador in Nicosia.

Christodoulides was answering a journalist’s question, as to whether US energy companies would display a similar interest in Cyprus’ hydrocarbons as they have in Greece.

The president said “advanced talks” are underway both with American companies and with neighbouring countries.

These discussions, he said, concern energy matters overall.

“Soon we will have specific announcements to make.”

He did not elaborate.

However his remarks may have something to do with ongoing talks between Cyprus and Lebanon, and between Lebanon and Syria, to demarcate their respective maritime borders.

Lebanon’s energy minister is expected to visit Cyprus next week.

In Greece on Thursday, a major offshore gas exploration deal was signed between Exxon Mobil, Energean and Helleniq Energy.

Signed during the US-Greece Partnership for Transatlantic Energy Cooperation (P-TEC) meetings in Athens, the agreement is for Block 2 of the Ionian Sea, northwest of Corfu, regarded as one Greece’s most mature offshore concessions.

Greece’s energy ministry described the project as “high-risk, high-reward”.

“This significant exploration agreement paves the way for potential future exploratory drilling investments in the 2027 timeframe,” Exxon’s vice president of global exploration, John Ardill, was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The project will require an investment between $50 million and $100 million, he said.

The deal also increases US interest offshore Greece, which last month named a consortium of US oil major Chevron and Helleniq Energy as the preferred bidder for exploration in other blocks.

“America is back and drilling in the Ionian Sea,” said the new US ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle.